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An in-person evaluation by the Texas Longhorns during Lewisville's practice on Wednesday resulted in an offer for offensive guard Denzel Okafor:
Blessed and homered to receive offer from Texas! #HookEm pic.twitter.com/e8MA2pK8Ja
— Okie (@DenzelOkafor) April 30, 2015
The offers comes after the Longhorns missed on four offensive linemen in the last two and a half weeks, including top offensive guard target Chris Owens, who committed to the Crimson Tide despite his longtime relationship with teammate and Longhorns quarterback pledge Shane Buechele.
Okafor is a 6'3, 287-pounder rated as a low three-star prospect -- he's the No. 1197 prospect overall, the No. 66 offensive guard, and the No. 151 player in Texas. However, a more telling sign of his value to college coaches is an increasingly-expanding offer list that now includes Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, TCU, Texas Tech, UCLA, and Washington.
The Horned Frogs and Red Raiders were coming after him hard as of early April and he intends on visiting both of those schools, in addition to taking a trip to Austin.
An offensive tackle for Lewsville, Okafor will almost certainly move inside in college due to his height. He can sink his hips and explode through defenders on contact and also looks like a knee bender with good pass sets against outside rushers. Working to the second level, his first two steps demonstrate good quickness before he chops his steps to acquire linebackers.
Okafor ran a 5.45 40-yard dash at the Dallas Nike Combine in March that matched that of Owens at The Opening regional camp the following day. And based on his film and overall build, he has a powerful upper body that aids his punch at the point of attack.
And where Owens was a more highly-regarded prospect when Texas offered, the national competition for Okafor isn't quite as fierce at this time. It remains to be seen whether Okafor will rise in the rankings to anywhere close to the current placement of Owens, but he does look like a similar player on film.
That's good news for recruiting efforts along the offensive line at a time when there hasn't been much recent good news for recruiting efforts along the offensive line.